Identity Crisis
' |image= |series= |production=40274-192 |producer(s)= |story=Timothy DeHaas |script=Brannon Braga |director=Winrich Kolbe |imdbref=tt0708733 |guests=Patti Yasutake as Alyssa Ogawa, Maryann Plunkett as Susanna Leijten, Dennis Madalone as Hendrick, Mona Grudt as Graham, Amick Byram as Paul Hickman, Paul Tompkins as Anthony Brevelle |previous_production=Night Terrors |next_production=The Nth Degree |episode=TNG D18 |airdate=25 March 1991 |previous_release=Night Terrors |next_release=The Nth Degree |story_date(s)=Stardate 44664.5 |previous_story=Night Terrors |next_story=The Nth Degree }} =Summary= Geordi La Forge’s friend and former crewmate, Lieutenant Commander Susanna Leijten, has come aboard the Enterprise-D; she is concerned that she and La Forge are the only two members of a previous 5-man away mission from the USS Victory to a seemingly abandoned colony on the planet Tarchannen III that are still accounted for; the other three, independently, have stolen a shuttlecraft from their current post and returned to the planet. Picard orders the ship to Tarchannen III; there, they find one of the stolen craft, manned by Lt. Hickman, attempting to land on the planet. The Enterprise is unable to communicate to Hickman, and the craft is incinerated during re-entry. On the surface, Leijten and La Forge discover another shuttlecraft, empty; strange footprints are seen near it. Leijten starts feeling ill, and they return to the Enterprise. Leijten improves immediately, but Dr. Crusher finds evidence of alien skin in Leijten's blood, not indigenous to the planet. While reviewing the data on the original Victory away team, Leijten becomes jittery and insists they return to the planet, and then starts exhibiting bright blue veins across her body. In Sick Bay, Dr. Crusher restrains Leijten and determines she is transforming into another species, and worried that this fate will befall La Forge. La Forge continues to study the data and discovers an anomaly in the original mission data. He notices a shadow in the recording that does not appear to belong to anyone on the mission. Starting to feel the same effects as Leijten, La Forge uses the data in the holodeck to reproduce the scene. By eliminating members of the mission from the scene he manages to discover that their team was in the presence of an invisible alien humanoid creature that created the shadow. It resembles what Leijten was transforming into. He suddenly goes into convulsions himself and soon transforms into the alien creature easily escaping the Enterprise due to his invisibility and beaming down to the surface. Dr. Crusher discovers that Leijten's transformation was triggered by an alien parasite that was capable of overwriting its host's DNA; removing the parasite quickly returns Leijten to normal. Leijten tells Dr. Crusher that placing the parasite in the host is the way the species has of reproducing. On learning that La Forge has left the Enterprise and beamed to the planet and that an away team is going to search for him, Leitjen says that she is the only one that will be able to find him. Leijten joins the away team on the surface searching for La Forge. Using ultra-violet light, they discover a number of the creatures, all transformed members of the colony and the former Victory crewmembers. Leijten recognizes one as La Forge, and is able to coax him away and take him back to the ship where he is similarly cured. However, the other crewmen have been transformed far too long to be saved, and they are left behind on the planet; Picard orders warning beacons placed around the planet to protect both the creatures and the Federation. =Errors and Explations= Plot Oversights # La Forge not needing his visor once transformed. The parasite could have regenerated his eyes in a way to allow the creature to see while making the eyes invisible. Equipment Oddities # The holodeck doors staying open until La Forge has taken eight and a half strides. Something could have triggered the sensor, prompting the doors to stay open. # Worf stating he will search the parimeter of the simulation in holodeck 3 for La Forge, instead of ending the program. He may be unwilling, or unable, to turn the simulation off. # The transporter being able to beam La Forge to the planet, after he had turned into a creature that was invisible to sensors. The transformation was incomplete, meaning there was enough of the original La Forge for the transporter to lock onto. Internet Movie Database Errors in geography # After the explosion of the shuttle, you get a picture of a shuttle that seems to have landed closely near trees, rocks and a building. Shuttles do not land vertical out of the air, so it seems an impossible spot to land your shuttle on that spot. Perhaps it was the only suitable spot in the area. Incorrectly regarded as goofs # Ensign Graham informs Captain Picard that the shuttlecraft (flying between the Enterprise and the planet) is out of transporter range. Yet later, the away team beams to the planet without problems. It is conceivable that at the time the Enterprise was trying to intercept the shuttle, she was still a long way away from it and again much further from the planet, even if the visual of the shuttle on screen suggested otherwise; it probably showed a close-up of the shuttle rather than its true distance. Ensign Graham's statement was therefore correct. Nit Central # Keith Alan Morgan (Kmorgan) on Wednesday, July 25, 2001 - 4:54 am: A shuttle is stolen from the Aries and journeys to this planet. It has been a while since I saw The Icarus Factor, but wasn't the Aries going to take at least 6 months at warp just to get to the Viga Omicron sector? ' Actually, Riker said it would take him six months to get there, with no indication of how he would make the journey. In any case, the Aries must have finished that assignment and returned by the time of this episode, set two years after Riker was offered the Aries.' # Data realizes that the creature's can be seen in ultraviolet light, but Geordi's VISOR can see ultraviolet light. So why didn't he see the creatures five years earlier? The area may have been covered in ultraviolet light. Besides, during the original away mission, Geordi was using an older VISOR, which may not have been as good at dealing with ultraviolet light. # At the beginning of the show we see a log of the Victory's Away Team examining the outpost where the people disappeared from. However the change from human to lizard takes five years, but there was no mention of Starfleet personnel stealing shuttles back then. So did the people come to this planet build an outpost and just stayed there for five years until they turned into lizards? No exploration teams before this, no visitors, no transfers of personnel to other ships, stations or planets? Or did those things only happen when the lizards were not in their mating period? More likely that the outpost was built shortly before the original away mission, which was sent to investigate the loss of contact with the outpost. # Why would Data need to adapt an emergency beacon to emit ultraviolet light? Way back in the primitive 20th century they had portable ultraviolet lights and even `Black Light' light bulbs. Rockhounds use ultraviolet lights to search for fluorescent rocks and minerals. Ultaviolet lights may not be standard issue on starships. # constanze on Tuesday, May 13, 2003 - 10:44 am: Is there any good reason why nobody on the away team uses his phaser to knock geordi-the-lizard out and then beam him directly into sick bay? A phaser beam could do more harm than good on this occassion. =Sources= Category:Episodes Category:The Next Generation